If you were to ask a Buddhist, a pupil of Confucious, a Hindu, etc. what book is Holy, each would proclaim some form of writings unique to their religion to be Divine in message. Certainly at some time, there are Communists who might even go so far as to say the works of Marx and Lenin were Divine.

But by what right, or what proof, does the Christian proclaim the Bible is above all the rest?
 
 

That's a pretty bold statement. There are lots of books. And many of them claim to be Holy.

But what's the one thing that makes the Bible unique, above all the others?

God places Himself on trial in this book.
 
 

  ISA 40:8
     8  The grass withers, the flowers fade,
        But the word of our God stands forever.

So basically, if you break the Bible... you break the Christian faith.

Since we are going to be putting God on trial, we need to know a little bit more about who He claims to be. What makes Him who He is?
 
 

ISA 46:9-10

     9  "Remember the formar things long past,
         For I am God, and there is no other;
         I am God, and there is no one like Me,
    10   Declaring the end from the beginning
         And from ancient times things which have not been done,
         Saying, 'My purpose will be established,
         And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';

     7  'And who is like Me?  Let him proclaim and declare it;
         Yes, let him recount it to Me in order,
         From the time that I established the ancient nation.
         And let them declare to them the things that are coming
         And the events that are going to take place.

Here's an open invitation for anyone who wants to be at God's equal to have a chance to step up to bat and prove themselves.

But God continues,... Flip back three more chapters.

  ISA 41:21-23

    21  "Present your case," the Lord says.
        "Bring forward your string arguments,:
         The King of Jacob says.
    22   Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
         As for the former events, declare what they were,
         That we may consider them, and know their outcome;
         Or announce to us what is coming.
    23   Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
         That we may know that you are gods;
         Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and
         fear together.

"Are there any other gods out there? Declare something and bring it to pass."

But, we see God knows the answer. Turn back to Isaiah 44, verse 8.

  ISA 44:8
     8  'Do not tremble and do not be afraid;
         Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?
         And you are My witnesses.
         Is there any God besides Me,
         Or is there any other Rock?
         I know of none.'"

For all of time no one has ever been able to do what God can do.

And, interestingly enough, since God knows the future with perfect accuracy, He informs us that no one will ever be able to do what He can do. Interesting twist!

When God tells us something about the future, we call that prophecy.
 

We can deal with it one of two ways:

1) We can stand back and watch it happen.
2) Or we can try and prevent it from happening.
 
 

For the believer, the burden has always been on him, while the critic was never at risk. Open-ended prophecies are a way that the critic can put his money where his mouth is. All that it takes is a little effort on man's part to discredit God. This is the ultimate in Biblical "put up, or shut up." At this point the critic will either verbally dismiss everything, or if the critic is willing to stand behind their claims, will take on God... and the results will be worth noting.

So without further adieu, let's read Ezekiel, chapter 26, verses 4 to 14 and let's look at the first test we can put God to.

EZE 26:4-14

    4  'And they will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her
        towers; and I will scrape her debris from her and make her
        a bare rock.
    5  'She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst
        of the sea, for I have spoken,' declares the Lord God, 'and
        she will become a spoil for the nations.
    6  'Also her daughters who are on the mainland will be slain by
        the sword, and they will know I am the Lord.'"
    7   For thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will bring upon Tyre
        from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings,
        with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a great army.
    8  "He will slay your daughters on the mainland with the sword;
        and he will make siege walls against you, cast up a mound
        against you, and raise up a large shield against you.
    9  "And the blow of his battering rams he will direct against
        your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.
   10  "Because of the multitude of his horses, the dust raised by
        them will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of
        cavalry and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as
        men enter a city that is breached.
   11  "With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets.
        He will slay your people with the sword; and your strong pillars
        will come down to the ground.
   12  "Also they will make a spoil of your riches and a prey of your
        merchandise, break down your stones and your timbers and your
        debris into the water.
   13  "So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the sound of your
        harps will be heard no more.
   14  "And I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place for the
        spreading of nets.  You will be built no more, for I the Lord
        have spoken," declares the Lord God.

Does that mean we're done, and the prophecy failed? No.

Why?

Is it the same city, this prophecy was talking about?

No.

Does the city written about still stand? No.

Sitting on the bank of the Mediterranean Sea, ancient Tyre was a booming place of trade and market. We're not talking about a little rinky dink place with a tent here and there in the desert. Think New York-ish.

What does it take to make such a grand city? Location, yes. Water, yes. On the coast, for a port, yes. Greenery? Lots of it. An appealing landscape? You bet.

All the ideal conditions exist for a city, but one isn't there today.
 
 

Even the worst critics will grant you the date 331 BC. But choose any date you want. You can even pretend the passage was written after the city was destroyed.

Why isn't there a city there today?

In the year 536 BC, verses 7 to 11 actually happened. Nebuchadnezzar did come from the north, with a massive army, and took siege upon the city, and laid waste to the place. This battle apparently lasted a while. This is all documented so nicely in our history book and encyclopedias.

Not wanting to have a similar occurance, the people took towards the water. Tyre was rebuilt on an island, and that is the Tyre of today, with descendants still living on that island.

The city was destroyed and left in ruins, but it was definitely not left "flat like a rock" as so clearly mentioned in verses 4 and 5.

Again, did the prophecy fail?  No. The city is flat today.
 
 

For fear, that after they'd pass the island inhabitants might make a sneak attack from behind, Alexander ordered the new Tyre to be destroyed.

Without boats, the army looked around and got the brilliant idea to take all the rubble and debris that was scattered about and throw it into the sea, to form a causeway to the island.

And that causeway was so well built, that it still exists today, turning the island into a peninsula. Even today, a portion of the newly rebuilt city (Tyre III?) extends onto the causeway. You can go to Tyre and see the debris the causeway is made out of. This too, is documented in history.

Every last bit of rubble and debris, even the dust itself was thrown into the sea to build a smooth level surface out to the island, leaving the ancient site of Tyre, flat as a rock.

At the site of ancient Tyre, fishermen spread their nets... to let them dry. And it's still used for that even today. Verse 14 holds true to this very day.

Who would have known that the city was going to be destroyed? And then that 200 years later all the rubble and debris would be thrown into the sea? And that after that the site would be used for nets?
 
 

The more recent attempt was by an English general who heard about the ideal location, and that the only thing stopping people was some God given legend.

He hired the best builders and architects his money could buy. He wasn't hurting for cash. He sailed over with men and materials and set to work building.

After the walls started going up, an earthquake hit knocking everything down. Unusual.

So they started rebuilding again. And again another earthquake knocked down their progress.

So they started building again. ...and you guessed it.

This little game lasted six months before he finally gave up in disgust, and went home.

The earthquakes, that hadn't happened there before, stopped as well. Leaving Tyre as an inviting place as ever.
 
 

Isn't that expensive?

You're taking on a big God, go do it in a big way. Just make the attempt.

But perhaps you want something a little easier to deal with...
 
 

ZEP 2:4-5

     4  "For Gaza will be abandoned,
         And Ashkelon a desolation;
         Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
         And Ekron will be uprooted.
     5   Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
         The nation of the Cherethites!
         The word of the Lord is against you,
         And I will destroy you,
         So that there will be no inhabitant.

Move forward two books to Zechariah and read chapter 9, verse 5.

ZEC 9:5

     5  Ashkelon will see it and be afraid.
        Gaza too will writhe in great pain;
        Also Ekron, for her expectation has been confounded.
        Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza.
        And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

You want to take on God? Go inhabit Ashkelon.

That too, has been tried. And this time, snakes came from nowhere and drove those who've tried... out.

The people leave. The snakes leave.

Ashkelon is still desolate. Remember, these were once really happening places, and are in nice areas of land today.
 
 

ISA 13:19-21

     19  And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans'
           pride,
         Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gommorah
     20  It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to
           generation;
         Nor will the arab pitch his tent there,
         Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
     21  But desert creatures will lie down there,
         And their houses will full of owls,
         Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there.
         And hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
         And jackals in their luxurious palaces.
         her hateful time also will soon come
         And her days will not be prolonged.

Babylon was once such a magnificent place. One of the seven wonders of the world. Again, picture a place like New York.

The site of ancient Babylon is uninhabited. Looking at verse 19 we see that it is as Sodom and Gommorah was. Brine and salt formations are forming in Babylon, and geologists aren't sure why.

But look at the second line in verse 20.
 
 

Did you catch it?

Arabs didn't exist when this was written. The Edomites, desert wanderers, eventually became the Arabs. Even in the Hebrew, this translates to Arabian tent.
( Note that some non-Biblical commentaries will refer to Edomites as "Elamites," which results from different phonetic pronounciations. )
 
 

You can. He won't.

No Arab is able to pitch a tent and spend the night.

It's been tried. Again, snakes come from out of nowhere and literally drives the Arab out.

You, personally, can put God's Word to the test on your next vacation to the Middle East.

Babylon was once was one of the most greatest places on the Earth, and now it's exactly as the book of Isaiah describes it. Two-thousand years later, and it isn't going to change.
 
 

Odds are most critics will dismiss this, and other tests. Not because they don't want to know if there's a God, but because they don't want to be held accountable if they find out there is one.

Those who have tried tested these prophecies (and others) have had to do some self examination...
 
 

Prophecy Speaks, by Ford Albert Rowell (former title: Daniel Dare)

Buried Evidence, by George Burnside

...these are books where people have tried to discredit prophecy and documented the results.
 
 

• Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia
• Babylon
• Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylonia
• The City of Trye

Alexander was at once presented to the army as king. Winning its support, he eliminated all potential rivals, gained the allegiance of the Macedonian nobles and of the Greeks (after a rebellion, in which he destroyed THEBES), and defeated the neighboring barbarians. Then he took up Philip's war of aggression against Persia, adopting his slogan of a Hellenic Crusade against the barbarian. He defeated the small force defending Anatolia, proclaimed freedom for the Greek cities there while keeping them under tight control, and, after a campaign through the Anatolian highlands (to impress the tribesmen), met and defeated the Persian army under DARIUS III at Issus (near modern Iskenderun, Turkey). He occupied Syria and--after a long siege of TYRE--Phoenicia, then entered Egypt, where he was accepted as pharaoh. From there he visited the famous Libyan oracle of AMON (or Ammon, identified by the Greeks with Zeus). The oracle certainly hailed him as Amon's son (two Greek oracles confirmed him as son of Zeus) and probably promised him that he would become a god. His faith in Amon kept increasing, and after his death he was portrayed with the god's horns.

After organizing Egypt and founding ALEXANDRIA, Alexander crossed the Eastern Desert and the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and in the autumn of 331 defeated Darius's grand army at Gaugamela (near modern Irbil, Iraq). Darius fled to the mountain residence of ECBATANA, while Alexander occupied BABYLON, the imperial capital SUSA, and PERSEPOLIS. Henceforth, Alexander acted as legitimate king of Persia, and to win the support of the Iranian aristocracy he appointed mainly Iranians as provincial governors. Yet a major uprising in Greece had him so deeply worried that he delayed at Persepolis until May 330 and then, before leaving, destroyed the great palace complex as a gesture to the Greeks. At Ecbatana, after hearing that the rebellion had failed, he proclaimed the end of the Hellenic Crusade and discharged the Greek forces. He then pursued Darius, who had turned eastward. Darius was at once assassinated by Bessus, the satrap of Bactria, who distrusted his will to keep fighting and proclaimed himself king. As a result, Alexander now faced years of guerrilla war in northeastern Iran and central Asia, which ended only when he married (327) ROXANA, the daughter of a local chieftain. The whole area was fortified by a network of military settlements, some of which later developed into major cities.

During these years, Alexander's increasingly Oriental behavior led to trouble with Macedonian nobles and some Greeks. PARMENION, Philip II's senior general, and his family originally had a stranglehold on the army, but Alexander gradually weakened its grip. Late in 330, Parmenion's oldest son, Philotas, commander of the cavalry and chief opponent of the king's new policies, was eliminated in a carefully staged coup d'etat, and Parmenion was assassinated. Another old-fashioned noble, Cleitus, was killed by Alexander himself in a drunken brawl. (Heavy drinking was a cherished tradition at the Macedonian court.) Alexander next demanded that Europeans follow the Oriental etiquette of prostrating themselves before the king--which he knew was regarded as an act of worship by Greeks. But resistance by Macedonian officers and by the Greek Callisthenes (a nephew of Aristotle who had joined the expedition as the official historian of the crusade) defeated the attempt. Callisthenes was soon executed on a charge of conspiracy.

With discipline restored, Alexander invaded (327) the Punjab. After conquering most of it, he was stopped from pressing on to the distant Ganges by a mutiny of the soldiers. Turning south, he marched down to the mouth of the Indus, engaging in some of the heaviest fighting and bloodiest massacres of the war. He was nearly killed while assaulting a town. On reaching the Indian Ocean, he sent the Greek officer Nearchus with a fleet to explore the coastal route to Mesopotamia. Part of the army returned by a tolerable land route, while Alexander, with the rest, marched back through the desert of southern Iran, chiefly to emulate various mythical figures said to have done this. He emerged to safety in the winter of 325-24, after the worst sufferings and losses of the entire campaign, to find his personal control over the heart of the empire weakened by years of absence and rumors of his death. On his return, he executed several of his governors and senior officers and replaced others.

He also ordered the governors to dismiss their mercenary armies, originally enrolled at his direction but now a cause of fear. Most of the mercenaries were exiled Greeks. The loss of their livelihood by tens of thousands of these men caused a grave social crisis. Alexander passed the problem on to the Greek cities by arbitrarily commanding them to readmit all their exiles. One side effect was a move to offer him deification (which some Greeks in Anatolia had perhaps already begun to do) in order to obtain concessions. Though the move was not due to his own initiative, this shows what he was thought to want. In Athens and perhaps elsewhere, the deification was passed after considerable resistance.

In the spring of 324, Alexander held a great victory celebration at Susa. He and 80 close associates married Iranian noblewomen. In addition, he legitimized previous so-called marriages between soldiers and native women and gave them rich wedding gifts, no doubt to encourage such unions. When he discharged the disabled Macedonian veterans a little later, after defeating a mutiny by the estranged and exasperated Macedonian army, they had to leave their wives and children with him. Because national prejudices had prevented the unification of his empire, his aim was apparently to prepare a long-term solution (he was only 32) by breeding a new body of high nobles of mixed blood and also creating the core of a royal army attached only to himself. After his death, nearly all the noble Susa marriages were dissolved.

In the autumn of 324, at Ecbatana, Alexander lost his boyhood friend Hephaestion, by then his grand vizier--probably the only person he had ever genuinely loved. The loss was irreparable. After deep mourning, he embarked on a winter campaign in the mountains, then returned to Babylon, where he prepared an expedition for the conquest of Arabia. He died in June 323 without designating a successor. His death opened the anarchic age of the DIADOCHI.

Alexander at once became a legend to the peoples that had seen him pass like a hurricane. Greek accounts from the start tended to blend almost incredible fact with pure fiction (for example, his meeting with the Queen of the AMAZONS). In the Middle Ages, the Alexander Romance, developed from beginnings soon after his death, was favorite light reading. Modern scholars, ever since the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen (1808-84) used Philip II and Alexander to embody his vision of the unification and expansion of Germany, have tended to make him a vehicle for their own dreams and ideals. The truth is difficult to disengage. The only clear features that emerge are Alexander's military genius and his successful opportunism: his unequaled eye for a chance and his sense of timing in both war and politics. The only clear motive is the pursuit of glory: the urge to surpass the heroes of myth and to attain divinity. The success of his ambition, at immense cost in human terms, spread a veneer of Greek culture far into central Asia, and some of it--supported and extended by the Hellenistic dynasties--lasted for a long time. It also led to an expansion of Greek horizons and to the acceptance of the idea of a universal kingdom, which prepared the way for the Roman Empire. Moreover, it opened up the Greek world to new Oriental influences, which prepared the way for Christianity.

E. Badian

Bibliography: Arrian, The Anabasis of Alexander, 2 vols., trans. by P. A. Blunt (1976-83); Borza, Eugene N., ed., The Impact of Alexander the Great (1976); Fox, Robin L. The Search for Alexander (1980); Green, Peter, Alexander the Great (1970); Griffith, G. T., ed., Alexander the Great (1966); Hamilton, J. R., Alexander the Great (1973); Hammond, N. G. L., Three Historians of Alexander the Great (1984); Milns, R. D., Alexander the Great (1968); Tarn, W. W., Alexander the Great, 2 vols. (1948); Wilcken, U., Alexander the Great, trans. by G. C. Richards, 2d ed., ed. by E. N. Borza (1967).

Picture Caption[s]

Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia (356-323 BC), as depicted on the face of an ancient coin. One of history's foremost military leaders, Alexander established an empire that extended from Greece to India. (Museo Nazionale, Naples/Ronald Sheridan Photo Library)

Copyright - 1992 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. 

Nebuchadnezzar's triple-walled city measured at least 18 km (11 mi) in circumference. In the old city, on the east bank of the Euphrates, stood Esagila, the temple of Marduk, the city god, and the associated seven-staged ziggurat Etemenanki, popularly associated with the Tower of BABEL. Northward from Esagila, the Processional Way, decorated with animals in glazed and relief brickwork, led through the Ishtar Gate (now in the Berlin Museum) to the New Year (Akitu) temple. Northwest of the Processional Way stood Nebuchadnezzar's palace. Vaulted structures at its northwest corner may be remains of the legendary Hanging Gardens, numbered among the SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD.

The site was first excavated in 1811, but the principal German investigations begun by Robert KOLDEWEY took place in 1899 to 1917. The Iraq Department of Antiquities has carried out recent restoration work.

Kate Fielden

Bibliography: Koldewey, Robert, The Excavations at Babylon (1914); Lloyd, Seton, Ruined Cities of Iraq (1942); Oates, Joan, Babylon (1986); Saggs, H. W. F., The Greatness That Was Babylon (1962).

Copyright - 1992 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
 
 

His father, Nabopolassar, was founder of the Chaldean dynasty in BABYLONIA. An Assyrian-appointed governor of BABYLON, he revolted in 626, joined the Medes, and destroyed the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612. After driving the last Assyrians into northwestern Mesopotamia, Nabopolassar left military operations in the hands of his son. Nebuchadnezzar dispersed the Assyrians, pushed their Egyptian allies out of Syria, and was about to invade Egypt itself when he received news of his father's death. He returned to Babylon to take the throne.

Nebuchadnezzar is best remembered for his relations with the Jews and as the builder of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Jewish Kingdom of JUDAH was positioned between two great powers--Egypt and Babylonia. It was unable to remain either independent or neutral; if it joined one side, it would be attacked by the other. In 597 and again in 586 when the kingdom was under Egyptian domination, Jerusalem was besieged and captured by Nebuchadnezzar. The second time he destroyed the city and carried off the Jews into their long BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.

In Babylonia, but most conspicuously in Babylon itself, Nebuchadnezzar engaged in numerous building projects. Babylon was fortified, many temples were constructed, and a great step-pyramid, or ZIGGURAT, the so-called Hanging Gardens, was erected. The last was later numbered among the SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD.

Events of the last years of Nebuchadnezzar are obscure. Old, even senile, he was perhaps dethroned by his own son. The biblical Book of Daniel, in which the king figures prominently, describes him as eating grass and undergoing a physical transformation in his final days. The Dead Sea Scrolls, however, suggest that it was not Nebuchadnezzar, but the last Chaldean king, Nabonidus (r. 556-539), who was afflicted by some such ailment.

Tom B. Jones

Bibliography: Budge, Sir Ernest A.T.W., Babylonian Life and History, 2d ed. (1925; repr. 1975); Goodspeed, George S., A History of the Babylonians and the Assyrians (1978); Tabouis, G.R., Nebuchadnezzar (1977); Wellard, James, Babylon (1974).

Founded on an island, perhaps as a colony of Sidon, Tyre possessed one of the best harbors on the coast. Until the 4th century BC the city was almost impregnable against siege, but Alexander the Great reduced Tyre in 332 BC by building a causeway that joined the island to the mainland.

Already long established, Tyre entered history as a vassal of the 18th dynasty of Egypt (1570-1320 BC). Following the disruption of Egypt and other Near Eastern powers in the age of the Sea Peoples, the city not only had attained an independent position but seems to have dominated Sidon. During the 10th century BC, Tyre supplied cedars, carpenters, masons, and bronzesmiths for King David (r. c.1000-c.960 BC) and King Solomon (r. c.960-c.921 BC ), and Tyrian sailors were available for Solomon's Red Sea fleet.

Subject to Assyria during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Tyre was dominated by the Persians from 538 to 332 BC. After its capture by Alexander the Great, Tyre was ruled by the Ptolemies, Seleucids, Romans, and Muslim Arabs (AD 638-1124). It was part of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th and 13th centuries but fell to the Mamelukes and was destroyed in 1291.

Louis L. Orlin

Bibliography: Harden, Donald, The Phoenicians, 2d ed. (1963).